1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a guide regulator plate for a vegetable preparing device which is used to cut a vegetable in round slices or in thin strips like a garnish served with sliced raw fish, the guide regulator plate having the functions of guiding a vegetable to a blade of the vegetable preparing device and regulating the thickness to which the vegetable is to be cut.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a conventional vegetable preparing device of this kind known by Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 21245/1977, in which a base portion (a portion far away from a flat blade and a comb-like blade) of a guide regulator plate, which is adapted to guide a vegetable to the flat blade and comb-like blade which are fixed to a body frame of the device, is joined pivotably to an end portion of the body frame by using support pivots consisting of bolts, a free turning edge of this guide regulator plate being turned vertically with respect to the flat blade and comb-like blade so as to regulate the lengths of the portions of these blades which project from the guide regulator plate, whereby the thickness to which the vegetable is to be cut can be regulated.
However, in the pivotably supported portions of the guide regulator plate in this known vegetable preparing device, long bolts are inserted into the guide regulator plate and the left and right portions of the body frame which are on the outer side of the guide regulator plate, in the above-mentioned manner, so that fine vegetable chips readily enter and gather in the clearances between the bolts and the bores in which they are inserted. Therefore, the operation of the pivotable portions tends to become dull, and the smoothness of the operation for regulating the thickness to which the vegetable is to be cut is lost. Moreover, it becomes difficult in many cases due to the clogged pivotable portions to turn the guide regulator plate greatly for the purpose of eliminating the vegetable chips which are apt to gather in a space in the vicinity of the comb-like blade. It is necessary every time the vegetable preparing device finishes being used that the comb-like blade and guide regulator plate be separated from the body frame so that each part of the device can be satisfactorily washed. It is difficult to remove the long bolts, and, especially, to insert these bolts into the relative bores during the reassembling of the device since the insertion of these bolts is done after the small bores in the pivotable portions have been aligned with each other. Namely, aligning these bores is very difficult. In addition, it takes much labor to remove the vegetable chips collected in a hardened state in the thin boltsupporting bores in the pivotable portions.